Tags
advertising, Brian Miller, catchphrase, just do it, poetics, poetry, slogan, you want to buy this
photo by Jerry Woody
Fourth quarter, down by a touchdown, on the two yard line. too tired bodies grunt as they crouch. sweat slicks the grass, air thick with tension & the smell of conquest. fans bang aluminum stands, yell, rattle cowbells. the boys in uniform breathe in gasps—HIKE—thunder claps as they all push into one place
SNAP
only this time it’s not the ball but a leg & now there are paramedics & cops & coaches, all the players kneeling, some praying & parents are both happy its not their kid and fearful it may be next time
THIS is not what NIKE commercials are made of & JUST DO IT loses it luster under these lights—but that was my night last night as our star running back broke his leg just above the ankle.
Advertising doesn’t sell these moments, but what is possible with flashy slogans that play at our desires…
I’m loving it ~McDonalds Save Money, Live better ~WalMart
I am what I am. ~Reebok
The greatest tragedy is indifference ~ Red Cross
Pleasing people the world over. ~Holiday Inn Stronger than dirt. ~AJAX
Pleasure is the path to joy. ~Haagen-Daz
…what you want we have and can provide to make your life better is what the marketers want us to believe. The title of the post is from a quote by George Orwell. Will Rogers boiled it down to this, “Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something they don’t need.”
Today, I want us to play with slogans. You can use them to make a statement, or just explore the meaning behind them, how they make you feel or maybe you have a creative idea for a slogan that captures who you are and just what you are selling with your life. Have at it.
My name is Brian Miller, and I will be your host for this journey. Don’t worry the only thing I am selling today is your chance to get creative…and all that takes is the price of putting pen to paper. Smiles.
If you are new, here’s how this works:
- Write a poem to the prompt and post it on your website, include a link to dVerse so others can follow you back.
- Click the Mr Linky below and enter your name & the direct URL to your poem
- You will also find the list of other that are participating. Read & tell others what you thought of their verse. Check back periodically as others will be joining over the next 33 hours.
- Have fun. It’s what poetry should be. (sounds like a tagline eh? smiles)
See you out on the trail. ~Brian
dVerse 
Great prompt… I preference to use the old Walmart slogan… look forward what all the others have used.
what was the old walmart slogan?
Always low price 🙂
ha, yeah a little more true eh? smiles.
Well, I got the slogan and the ditty going through my head. While I hope I’m a good neighbor, I do hope I’m not like the guy my imagination introduced me to! Fun prompt, Brian.
And if it’s true about your running back, I’m so sorry. I like football but shudder when I see some of those awful things they put their bodies through.
Last night, we were excited when my husband’s Alma Mater, NDSU, took out Kansas State. Go, Bisons!
it is. his season is over in the first game…and probably his basketball season as well…which stinks…our starting quarterback is out 3 weeks now as well so its going to be a long season….i still shudder at the joe theisman injury….
college football starts today…woot…but my team already lost so no talking about that…smiles.
And your team is…?
college i am a UNC fan in all sports…they lost to south carolina on thursday….
What a traumatic thing… and right at the start of the season, too. Is he a senior? Those boys are stronger than dirt, ya know.
I’m loving it (by the way)– the prompt.
no he isnt so he has another year to play but…sheesh…made for a long night last night and not sure i would want back out there after that one…just saying it…ha…MCd’d…smiles.
“Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something they don’t need.”… ha – that boils it down to its essentials pretty good – and yet – i have to admit that i admire those who invent these slogans cause it is an art – maybe a mean art in a way – but def. some of them are really smartly done – cool prompt bri – looking forward to read what everyone comes up with
happy writing and happy saturday!!
and ugh on the kid with the broken leg – hope it heals quickly..
there is def an art to it…getting something to stick in our heads so we go back and think about it again and again…hey thats what we try to do eh? smiles….
Wow, this prompt seemed so obvious to use, and yet what freshness it put into my day when I began to strike back at a lifetime of conditioning, as those jingles & slogan began unraveling in my head. I took your lead, and wrote in a fury, and read it back with the hip-hop tempo. You never cease to amaze me, brother; good on you.
nice…i knew you would get us in the way back machine good sir…be over in just a few to see what you brought….
Brian, I cheated and looked up popular slogans and rewrote what is linked to dVerse. I kept the other just for my own rant. Thanks for getting me thinking although I still end up in the same spot. lol. Out out dam spot.
smiles…that is ok, then i get a two for one today from you…smiles….
ha out spot indeed…smiles.
Could that be used for a detergent’s slogan?
ha. yes i think it could…smiles.
Interesting prompt, Brian. It took me a while to think of an approach, but then (once I did) it was fun putting it together.
And yes, Claudia, those who invent those slogans that we all remember are very clever people indeed.
I will look forward to seeing what others come up with!!
there is def some fun stuff out on the trail already…and interesting too the ones we forget but when we hear it again they immediately come to mind….yours was a lot of fun mary
Great title post and challenge Brian ~ Too sad to read about your star student ~ Hope he recovers soon ~ Marketing always want to make us buy things we don’t need and even when we buy them, we don’t use them, what a waste ~
Wishing you all Happy Saturday ~
i hear you on the things that once we get them end up collecting dust…i am thinking late night tv ads now…ha….
Love this prompt. I did this as a kind of cento.
ah thanks debi….enjoyed it…
have fun visiting others, there have been some pretty good rips so far…smiles.
I have been… oh, the imaginations, twists and turns of poetic minds! So much fun.
Excellent prompt Brian – it certainly took me somewhere I didn’t expect. Bit of a rant perhaps – but guided by the slogan used.
Anna :o]
hey i am all for rants…smiles.
Cheers Brian!
Anna :o]
aprille, for some reason i cant get to your blog….
Oh Brian, what a fun prompt. Yet again.
It’s my birthday and there are guests downstairs, but I just had to have a little go.
Poetry and advertising are closely linked these days.
hey see note above…your blog is not letting me in….
happy birthday!!!!!!
ok i will get my singing voice tuned up…
let me in let me in…smiles.
Me neither… 🙂 very curious…
i sent her an email and commented at her other place…maybe she will swing back through from her party…smiles.
Sorry – it is open now. Administrative error 🙂
Was such a lot going on around here, and people looking over my shoulder, so I ticked the wrong box.
Such a good day. Gorgeous food, great weather and talk and….yawns.
glad you had a good day…be by in a min
happy birthday!!!! smiles
happy birthday!!!
What an interesting prompt today! These brand names have definitely brought forth a new generation which is blinded by the glossy neon signs and billboards, hypnotized by the power they have in them.
But writing a catchphrase isn’t that an easy task. It has to be attention-grabbing… it has to be something you can’t forget.
it has to be something that hits you right in the center of your soul and suggests that it is the answer to your needs…
i agree…you def have to know your audience so that you hit the right notes in the music of you slogan….but i agree as well on the present generation…
yes – i agree as well on the present generation and how they identify with specific brands and how they need to have sport shoes or whatever from a specific brand to be cool and/or accepted– difficult
maybe some sewing box talk… we talked with our kids about brands and ads and how they work and then we gave them in addition to their pocket money a clothes budget – that was an average of what we thought makes sense and what they need – there was one for autumn/winter and one for spring/summer – now it was their choice – they could buy one really trendy expensive brand shirt or three non-brand shirts or whatever – that made them think and compare and it worked pretty good
i think that is a valuable lesson claudia….so many dont know how to manage money…and you would be surprised how few high schoolers really dont understand the math behind it either…really shocking to me this year…
ok – about to bed my tired head on a soft pillow and drifting off to dreamland… will be back in the AM to read… i probably will be dreaming slogans tonite…smiles
sleep well…maybe they will be disneyland dreams then…smiles.
Brian, This reminded me of my favorite Dr. Seuss book “The Lorax” in which the Onceler says:
“I’m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat.
But it has OTHER uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!”
I might try my hand at a poem in response to this prompt a little later. Right now I have to make good on my promise of dinner for the family. Peace, Linda
smiles…make a good dinner…they are def more important…ha on the Lorax connection…i love dr. seuss….
Hello Brian, ! Serious ouch! I can feel that “snap”! I hope there’s a good athletic Dr. for him to heal smoothly with!…This prompt was fun and maddening at the same time lol. There are thousands of ways to write this and things to pick from. I started a few and came back to this one, which just kept me going. I’ll write one up that’s cheery, sometime:) Thanks for , what felt like a school day:)
hopefully not too maddening you know….smiles…
on my way over….
ohh no, it was just a fun/hard because there are soo many to pick from! this is a subject you could write on for days!. I started with a whole bunch, but I saw no end, funny because that’s what happened when I picked only one!
smiles.
Great Prompt Brian, I had fun writing and reading all the creative poems.
smiles. glad you did….
Hey Brian, I am thinking about this one. I was going to post an old country music song that I wrote (many years ago) but it would only make sense if I sang it and I do not know if I am quite up to that! We’ll see. Terrible about the broken leg–k.
ha, come on k….sing to us….smiles….
My mess is in the mix. Thanks for inviting me.
woot, i love a little mess…smiles.
good morning… awake and catching up before a friend comes over to join me for brunch… so i had no coffee yet…yikes…smiles
Loved your weaving the powerful story from your week with the topic of advertising slogans, Brian. Thanks for a fun prompt, and………..
Have a Nice Day! 🙂
thank you ma’am….just catching up…slow to wake this holiday weekend…
Hey Brian – rest!
Decided not to go for the old country song! Too hard to tape a song this weekend–and very silly – but it was fun to remember it and may go down that road another time. k.
cool. then i have something to look forward to eh? smiles.
Ha!
Wow! Brian this is such a spectacular prompt! I think it is quite a challenge too. I am going to ponder for a while maybe I will muse up something, I am not so sure though. 🙂
smiles….have at it….we are open for another 10 hours so you have plenty of time….
I may need it all. ha!
I’d love to give this some thought… but I’m still reading and responding to “One more time” & Friday Flash w/ G-man. Have had a busy three day (yeah) weekend with family. Maybe I’ll think up something for Open Link Night. Thanks, Brian, for hosting 🙂 I googled the top advertising slogans and tested my kids with them… they didn’t know most of them as they always Netflix and look up movies via other routes… isn’t that interesting. I grew up on jingles …
cool. look forward to it at OLN….hope you have a great Labor Day weekend margaret
I know I am late to the party, but I’m glad to be here. Happy Labor Day friends, may it be exactly how you like it.
happy labor day susan…smiles.
Sorry I didn’t make it in time to link soemthing here. Best slogan I ever heard though, was made by my dad and I feel like I should share it with you. The slogan is for prunes, and it’s : “Start a movement – eat prunes”
oh that one could get messy….ha
This is such a great prompt idea! I tried so hard to come up with something for this prompt and nothing came. Then, last night, the beginnings of a poem popped in my head and only after it was done did I realize that there was a slogan in it. I thought the linky had expired and in a panic rushed to see- and I still had some time. Funny how things work out. Now off to comment some more. 🙂
hey you made it man…and i def enjoyed your verse…thanks for being there…and just finished writing up the PubTalk today to announce the other winners in our contest…woot!
Made it by the skin of my teeth! That’s awesome Brian- I’ll keep my eye out for it.
Darn. Rats. Mutter. Mutter. Went away for the weekend and ‘unplugged’ with the boys – missed your great challenge Brian! I might do something with it for #OLN though! Too much fun potential here! 🙂 Great poems, going to be reading them tomorrow over coffee! 🙂